Photos

Pythons strangling the Everglades

South Florida Water Management District workers hold a 16-foot-long Burmese python that was captured and killed in Florida's Everglades National Park. The python had recently consumed a 76-pound deer. The reptile was one of the largest ever found in South Florida.

From left, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Al Mercado, National Park Service Supervisor Ranger; Ron Bergeron of the Fish and Wildlife Service; and Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar hold a 13-foot python in the Everglades. Salazar announced the ban on importation and interstate transportation of four giant snake species that threaten the Everglades.

Snake hunter Dave Leivman, of Weston, Fla., shows a 9-foot python he caught in the Everglades.

A Burmese python is wrapped around an American alligator in Everglades National Park.

A researcher holds a Burmese python near her nest in Everglades National Park. A National Academy of Sciences report released Jan. 30 indicates that the proliferation of pythons coincides with a sharp decrease of mammals in the park.

University of Florida researchers Therese Walters, from left, Alex Wolf and Michael Rochford hold a Burmese python that weighs 162 pounds and is more than 15 feet long. The snake was caught alive in Everglades National Park and had eaten a 6-foot-long American alligator.

A Burmese python swims in Florida Bay from the end of Twisty Channel toward End Key.